


The Truth about Ash Tyler

by cryptolect



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 11:45:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18135329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptolect/pseuds/cryptolect
Summary: A rush smut job, with a side of emotions.  Pike thinks he knows how to captain a crew by this point, but Tyler throws him into a state of confusion. Spoilers through Season 2, Episode 9. Gonna get Jossed super-quickly.  Look in Works for Part 2.





	The Truth about Ash Tyler

“Yes, taken all-in-all, I like it very well. Apart from the issue I have already mentioned.”

“Specialist Tyler?”

“Specialist Tyler.”

“Please tell me more; what is the problem, precisely?”

“The problem is, that he gets under my skin Aida, he really does, in more ways than one. And to be honest it’s caught me off guard. I had thought I should have overcome such a simple weakness by this point in my career.” He leaned forward in his chair and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, then sat back and looked ruefully up at the view screen.

“The problem is, that I didn’t know him before, and I don’t know who he is now, after everything that’s happened; I don’t know _what_ he is, I don’t even know if _he_ knows who, and what, he is. And, more importantly, I don’t know if I can _get_ to know him. Such a mess. If Section 31 hadn’t saved him there’s no way he could have continued in Starfleet I wouldn’t have thought – what Captain would have him on their bridge? Of course, as he is with Section 31 that is just another reason why I don’t know whether he may have an agenda which I’m not aware of, one which could threaten us all. I should keep as much distance as I can.” He hesitated suddenly, breath catching a little in his throat. "And yet-”

His old friend tilted her head. “And yet?” she encouraged him.

“The _problem is_ that If I could simply dislike and distrust him, perhaps I could make my peace with that, act civilly, keep my eye on him and do my utmost to keep him away from anything important. But he is highly intelligent, perceptive, disciplined, brave, apparently quite honourable and altruistic. He intrigues me, honestly. I want to like him. I want to trust him. My mind tells me I can. But my gut tells me that I have no reference points for that trust, no foundation. Maybe he’s simply a very skilled manipulator, perhaps I am being taken in by him exactly as he means to take me in. It- this uncertainty makes me feel conflicted and unconfident. I _do not like_ to feel that way.”

There was silence for a moment, as he reflected again on everything he had just told her, all that had been running through his head since Ash Tyler had come aboard the Discovery. “What do you think I should do, Aida?”

“You told me you aren’t sure if you can get to know him. Well, you won’t know unless you try. Perhaps you’ll fall for his manipulation, if that is what is going on – but if he is that gifted, then you may already have fallen, no matter what you do. You have always been one to fully engage with a problem, Christopher, and you rely heavily on your perception and instincts as well, it’s one of your strengths. I say, try to get to know him better and then see what you think.”

He was silent again, for so long that she leaned forward with a slight squint as if trying to see into his mind. “What is it Christopher? If I’ve missed the mark you can tell me, you know, I-” He interrupted her quickly as he decided in that instant that he wouldn’t - couldn’t bear to – share the whole truth with her. “No! Thank you, it’s good advice.” But not likely, he knew, the advice she’d have given him after he’d told her about the fire that Tyler lit inside him, the way he wound himself into Pike’s daytime thoughts, his night-time dreams. That he maddened him, with suspicion and with longing in equal measure. Calm unflappable Captain Christopher Pike was starting to fray –just a little - at the seams.

\---------------

He took Aida’s words, however dishonestly elicited, as the permission he’d wanted, and over the next few days, he deliberately began to spend more time with Tyler outside working hours. Just the odd drink, a conversation about sports or new gadgets they both liked, nothing even slightly improper. He found Ash good company; knowledgeable, thoughtful, quick to laugh at his jokes. He found Tyler to be infuriating, insubordinate and of dubious trustworthiness. Throughout it all, he found Ash Tyler to be magnetic. Whether they were bonding or jostling for dominance, he never felt more alive than when they were interacting. When their fingers brushed in the shuttle it sent a spark of electricity through him even as he scowled in irritation at the other man’s presumption. He started to imagine a future where trust could be built. He tried not to remember Aida’s words; “you may already have fallen.”

And then. And then the unauthorised communications, the sabotage of the spore drive. Tyler’s fruitless denials. The man was so plausible. Pike yearned to believe him; did not. The best he could hope for was that Tyler believed it himself. That might at least mean that he wasn’t complicit in Section 31’s dirty work and was only their pawn. Pike couldn’t afford to give it any more consideration, and despite his sickening disappointment, he schooled himself to turn his attention to the mission at hand.

But in the wakeful night, he couldn’t keep his thoughts at bay any longer and they descended, ravening, to feast. Tyler, looking desperately around the bridge for any source of support, finding none. Tyler, alone in his quarters. Plotting? Despairing? Tyler, who would never be believed again, not really. Tyler, alone, belonging to nowhere and nobody. Tyler, who could do, and be, all this and yet also the subtle instrument of their destruction.

Pike held imaginary conversations with Ash in which he interrogated him, brutalised him, analysed him, sympathised with him, _anything_ to try to uncover the truth of his actions. And when in the end he ran out of questions, and was no closer, of course, to an answer, and Ash shut down in that trademark way of his, and Pike despaired of ever resting, then he would give in to those other thoughts.

The ones where he shoved Tyler up against the wall in a fury, and Tyler let him do it. Where he clenched his fist in Tyler’s thick glossy hair and turned his head and sucked and bit hungrily on his neck and heard the stifled moan. Where he stripped away Tyler’s uniform clothes to reveal the beauty beneath. Where he cared for Tyler so tenderly, showing him the kindness he could not always seem to muster for himself.

In these fantasies Tyler was no longer the closed careful person he was in his working hours. Pike vented all his conflicting emotions towards Ash in those moments; raged at him, shook him, caressed him and soothed him. And Ash opened up for him, raged back, fought back, wept, nestled in his arms, accepted his caresses, returned his feverish embraces.

His favourite images were of the calm after the storm, when they lay in each other’s arms, trusting and peaceful. It had been a long time since he had been intimate with someone and he found he longed for some physical contact. In his mind he pressed up against Ash, skin-to-skin along the length of their bodies, his paler Moon to Ash’s glowing golden Sun. As he stroked Tyler’s long limbs, feeling the faint trembling underneath, his excitement would grow.

Sometimes he would roll over Ash and pin his arms above his head. Kiss him gently and then more deeply as he ground against him until they were both hard. Then he would explore Tyler’s body, licking and stroking and teasing to see what could elicit the most pleasure. How Ash's nipples would grow hard and he would arch upwards to chase the sensation of Pike’s mouth against them. His belly, so astonishingly soft and sensitive, little goose bumps arising in response to the lightest touches. Ash writhing and gasping out, eyes fluttering closed, breath coming faster and harder as Pike sucked his delicious cock.

Other times he imagined that Ash would climb on top of him, eager but slightly, delightfully, shy. Nothing made Pike get hard faster than those moments, envisaging Ash’s long lashes cast down, his face slightly hidden under a curtain of hair, a faint flush on his cheeks. At those times, Pike would pull Ash down towards him, kiss him as sweetly as he knew how, hold him as tightly as he could manage, whisper in his ear all the most loving words that he knew, until they were as one, no secrets between them. And he would grind up against Tyler and tell him all the most erotic, the most libidinous things that he wanted to do with him. By now they would be rutting, panting, Ash’s beautiful brown eyes deep liquid pools in the half-light, fixed on him. Then he would ride Pike until they both cried out together, and fell back exhausted.

\----------

“I’m sorry, Specialist Tyler. I don’t apologise for making the decision to detain you. I trust that you will understand that it was the right call, given the information available at the time. However, I am sorry that you have had to spend time under detention, as it seems that you were not involved in Ariam’s subversion. You are free to go.” Tyler looks back at him, impassively. Doesn’t move. In the end, Pike gets up to leave – they are in Tyler’s quarters after all – and as he is nearly to the door, Tyler says something Pike can’t catch. He turns. “Excuse me?” Tyler stands, and says, his voice cracking slightly “No matter what I do, you are never going to trust me, are you Captain?” Pike closes his eyes for a moment, bites down against the sea of words and emotions which threatens to overflow and wash them both away.

“I... want to, Tyler. You can't imagine how much I want to.”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the passionate advocacy and beautiful art of orientalld over on Tumblr.


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